Seasoned travellers know that even the best-laid plans can go awry. You can’t always see trouble coming your way, but you can prepare for it. Consider making room in your luggage (and calling the hotel) to ensure your room is stocked with these essential travel items.

1. First-Aid Kit

Foot blisters, sunburns and stomach aches might not be serious enough for a trip to the doctor, but they can interrupt your vacation time. It’s smart to pack a small first-aid kit with remedies for common travel-related ailments.

A first-aid kit is especially important to bring if you don’t speak the local language. A language barrier can make it very difficult to find a particular medication. Consider packing medicine for nausea, headaches, and allergies, along with bandages and creams to treat minor cuts and blisters.

2. Travel-Size Sewing Kit

Ever notice how lost buttons, skewed zippers and ripped pants seem to happen a lot more often on vacation? The solution is a small, travel-size sewing kit. Think of it as a first-aid kit for your clothes.

Don’t forget to include safety pins! They can make great emergency swimsuit clasps.

3. Wet Wipes/Moist Towelettes

While it’s important to minimize single-use products, wet wipes are an essential travel item to have in a pinch. They’re great for wiping away sweat, wiping down tables, cleaning your hands on the go. Back at your hotel, disposable wipes are useful for sanitizing switches and knobs, or a sticky TV remote.

Plus, if there’s one law of travel, it’s that you can never count on public restrooms to have toilet paper. Wet wipes can be a life-saver in these circumstances.

4. Mini-Fridge

It’s not something you can pack, but a mini-fridge is something you’ll want to have in your hotel room.

Why? Because it saves you in the event that you (or your kids) doesn’t take a liking to the local cuisine. With a mini-fridge, you can buy healthy, ‘safe’ foods at the local grocery store and keep them in your hotel.

A hotel room mini-fridge also thwarts the temptation to dine out at restaurants for each meal, making it an essential travel item for anyone on a diet or a tight budget.

5. Linen Spray

No one wants to come home to a musty hotel room. Unfortunately, it happens, especially if you wind up in a smoking room.

If the linens and carpets aren’t smelling their best, spritz them with an odour-neutralizing linen spray. It’s a temporary solution, but it’ll do for a temporary stay.

6. Map

Most travellers have switched from physical to digital maps, but there are benefits to having a genuine hard copy on hand. Wi-Fi and phone signals can cut out, electronics can break, and blackouts can shutter access to power. Physical maps are dependable.